If some U.S. National Team fans were bitter about losing Giuseppe Rossi to Italy before, they’re downright apoplectic now. The striker _ born in Teaneck and raised in Clifton _ came on as a late sub and scored a brace to lift the Azzurri past the ten-man U.S. 3-1 in the Confederations Cup.

Despite having Houston’s Ricardo Clark sent off with a harsh red card, the U.S. outplayed Italy and took a 1-0 lead in the 41st-minute. New Jersey-born Jozy Altidore _ whom the Red Bulls sold to Villareal for $10 million _ drew a penalty, an Landon Donovan converted it for a shorthanded lead.

But Rossi came off Italy’s bench and equalized in the 59th minute, blasting a 30-yard shot with more action than a K-Rod curveball past a helpless Tim Howard. The 22-year-old striker completely turned the game around, and took the wind out of the U.S.’ sails. And after Daniele De Rossi scored the go-ahead goal, Rossi threw dirt on the U.S.’ proverbial coffin. Rossi _ Altidore’s club teammate at Villareal _ took an Andrea Pirlo pass and scored again on a counter in the waning moments.

“It’s disappointing.” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “To play against a team like Italy and be down a man takes extra strong efforts on a lot of parts, and I thought that part was good. After their goal, I thought we did a very good job for a period of time of still being organized and finding some opportunities going forward.

“At the end, we are taking more chances because we are still trying to find a way to get the equalizer. Unfortunately we couldn’t do better with a few long range shots and corners in that period of time. They did well to finish the game. It’s only the first game of the group, and now we move on.”

Did you think the Clark red card was overly harsh? How did you feel the U.S. played overall? Miffed to see Rossi with a brace against his birth nation? Or have you moved on, especially with the U.S. finally coming out on the good end of one of those situations with Jermaine Jones? Share your views below….